The Strength to Heal
by Itachis-new-home
Summary: After four long years of hard training, Sakura returns to the village, ready to face the challenges ahead as a top-tier shinobi. She could never have imagined that a certain Uchiha would be the one to push her to her limits. ItaSaku, M for reasons. ON HIATUS - SEE PROFILE FOR MORE INFO
1. Chapter 1

_Home..._

Inhaling the crisp air, Sakura stopped for a minute to relish in the sight spread out before her. Rambunctious children kicking a ball in the streets, laughing with the setting sun shining on their faces. Elderly shopkeepers sweeping off storefront stoops and organizing their wares. Ninja flew across the rooftops above, moving through the air with a casual purpose. There is never anything quite like a village during peacetime.

The thick waves of nostalgia she felt being back here almost stung, although she couldn't say she hadn't anticipated it. After almost four years of non-stop hard training across unfamiliar and mostly unforgiving lands, she had been dreaming of this moment since she had first set off on her journey, imagining how it would feel to stand at those gates, knowing she would be a completely different ninja at that point. At least, completely different when it came to her skills and repertoire, she started feeling increasingly giddy at the thought of seeing her dear old friends again.

" _Some things would never change,"_ She thought with a smile, continuing down the main road and into town.

She pushed open the door, taking in the space that was now her home. She flipped several light switches, illuminating the modestly decorated, but cozy one-bedroom apartment with a kitchen and single bathroom. It kept to the traditional village style, focusing on a minimalist, yet cozy atmosphere with wood floors and pale green walls. The furnishings, which came with the apartment, were sturdy and reasonably comfortable, if leaving something to be desired to the eye. However, it was a complete upgrade to the tents and the occasional inn that served as home the duration of her training, and Sakura relished in it. She set about unpacking the few things that she had bothered to bring back from her journey, the most important item being a worn photo album filled with shots of Team 7 and her other classmates, her parents, as well as several blurry shots from when they had tried to take pictures of Kakashi-sensei's face. She chuckled, giving it a quick flip through before setting it on her nightstand and tackling the rest of her suitcase. The entire process took less than fifteen minutes, as a traveling ninja it was advantageous to keep your pack as light as possible.

Making a mental note that a supply shopping trip was direly needed, she headed out the door. While abroad she had kept in contact with her childhood friend, Ino, via mailed letters and promised to attend a welcome home party being thrown in her honor the night of her return at Yakiniku Q, one of their favorite old haunts.

Pushing the restaurant door open, she was immediately bombarded with loud 'Welcome home!'s and yells of her name, but before she had a chance to even think about responding she found herself blinded by a flash of orange and deafened by her own name being yelled in an obnoxiously loud voice right in her ear. She was now in a strong embrace, being swung around in impossibly fast circles, the restaurant fading into an incomprehensible horizontal blur. Her protests meant nothing to the offending ninja though, who managed to spin around so fast he fell over... With her still in his arms.

It took her exactly one second to go from being jovial to enraged.

"NARUTOOO!" She boomed terrifyingly as she jumped up and kicked the stupid ninja in the abdomen, earning a high pitched squeak as she forced all the air out of his lungs.

"I'M BACK FOR ONE MINUTE AFTER BEING GONE FOR FOUR YEARS AND YOU DECIDE IT"S APPROPRIATE TO GREET ME LIKE THIS!" She could feel her hair rise up menacingly and the veins in her forehead pulsed as her blood pressure rose dangerously. Naruto helplessly squeaked an apology out in response to her verbal onslaught.

"Y-You sure have gotten a lot stronger - hng - Sakura-chan," Naruto managed with an awkward laugh and a pained smile, clutching at his side. This would hurt for awhile.

Cacophonous laughter sounded all around them. Oh, right. Anger washed away from her as she gazed up to the faces of all her friends, who had clearly been enjoying the scene, or at least were mildly entertained by it. It seemed as though the entire village had come to greet her back, there was hardly an open space in the entire restaurant, which had been transformed from a BBQ joint to a BBQ joint with party flair and streamers. Lots and lots of streamers, mostly in pink, but a few in green and red.

"I'll deal with you later," She snapped at Naruto, her forehead vein still slightly twitching, ignoring his loud protests before turning to greet everyone.

"Hey Forehead!" Ino stepped up to greet her with a coy smile, long blonde hair flowing as elegant as ever behind her, and gave her a quick hug before pulling back to examine her with those all-knowing blue eyes of hers. "I see at least that hasn't changed at all!"

"And I see you're still Miss Ino-Pig!" The two beamed at each other and embraced once more, having clearly missed the others friendship very much.

People slowly filtered around and through the restaurant to greet her and catch up on what had happened while she was away. Hinata had given her a hug and a polite welcome home, before stepping back to Naruto's side where he placed an arm around her, causing her to blush a deep pink. Sakura raised an eyebrow at their developed relationship, last she had seen of them Hinata was just beginning to work up the courage to admit her feelings to him.

 _"Maybe what I said finally got through to her."_ Sakura couldn't help but smile, feeling a genuine joy at the two lovebirds on display.

Kiba came up to her and said hello, flashing her that toothy, cocky grin and handing her a well-received beer before he mingled back to Shino, who gave her a wave from where he was already seated at a table, next to a Choji happily munching away on BBQ without a care in the world.

"Hello Sakura, I trust you are doing well," Neji came up to give her another polite, well-spoken Hyuga welcome. "I am curious to see what skills you have developed while you have been away-"

"Sakura Haruno! It is so great to have you back in the village! It would be an honor to see the results of your training!" Lee jumped in with an overly enthusiastic interruption to Neji's point. Neji just sighed, clearly used to his demeanor. "I can also only hope you grace me with a sparring match one of these days!"

"You're on, Lee! I want to see what you've got up your sleeves these days too," Sakura raised a fist in front of her, accepting his challenge honorably. A sparring match with Lee was always an excellent way to practice taijutsu, and thanks to his genuine desire to see people succeed in his art he made a great training partner and even though he shared his age with her, at times a mentor.

"Sakura-chan! Welcome home!" She turned her head to see Tenten come bouncing up happily and presented her with a gift, wrapped in a beautiful gold and red paper.

"Aww, Tenten, you really didn't have to do this for me!" Sakura gently protested, looking up at the girl who just shook her head and continued to hold out the gift.

"No please, accept it! I went shopping with Ino and Hinata the other day and just couldn't resist getting you a little something, I hope you like them!" Sakura nodded and gratefully accepted the box. She gently tore away the packaging and opened the box, revealing an ornate pair of Jade teardrop earrings, the post of the earring featuring a gold Haruno family insignia.

"Oh my god, they're beautiful!" Sakura said, fawning over the craftsmanship once more before putting them in. "How do they look?"

"Wow, they really bring out your eyes!" Ino chimed in from her side. Sakura gave Tenten a huge hug and thanked her. She really did have the best friends a girl could ask for.

Sakura continued to mingle with various villagers and ninja before she sat down at one of the several large dinner tables that spanned the length of Yakiniku Q. The tantalizing scent of roasted BBQ filled the air, the noise of many conversations buzzing loudly around the restaurant. Waiters rushed hurriedly around to serve all the patrons, you could see the restaurant manager behind the cash register looking practically ecstatic at the influx of business. Beer and Sake flowed generously between friends, all of them happily now of drinking age.

"Well, if it isn't Sakura." Kakashi-sensei appeared in a puff of smoke next to her at the table she was sitting at and smiled at her warmly, his eye crinkled in a lazy contentment. He looked exactly the same as when she had left.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura jumped up to give him a hug. "Late as ever!" She gave him a playful punch on the arm, his slight wince not going unnoticed.

"I'm practicing for my funeral." He said with a shrug, rubbing his arm and the table laughed.

"Don't tell me you're getting beat up by girls now, Kakashi." Yamato said dryly with a slight smirk as he took the seat next to the white haired nin.

"Just the ones that have endured Tsunade boot camp and lived to return."

"We can't have you getting soft on us old man." Shikamaru chimed in from a few seats down, pointing a chopstick at him.

"Old man, eh? Perhaps I'll remember that quip next time the mission assignment council is taking recommendations on qualified ninja for sewer-rat exterminations." Shikamaru paled and gulped loudly. Not wanting to tempt fate he continued to eat his BBQ in focused silence.

Sakura's vision went dark as she felt hands cover her eyes.

"Guess whooooo~" A feminine voice sang from behind her. Sakura whipped around and gave a happy squeal, practically jumping up and into the arms of one of her favorite elders.

"Kushina-sensei! I didn't expect you to be here, I figured you would be busy tonight, don't you volunteer at the orphanage on Tuesday nights?"

"I'm on my way there now, but I had to come see my honorary niece on her first night back in the village," Kushina gave her a warm smile. "You really have blossomed into quite a beautiful young lady!" Much to the woman's surprise a small tear trailed down her cheek, which she quickly wiped at with the back of her hand. She gave a sheepish smile.

"Oh dear, no no no. I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry." Sakura laughed and gave her another hug. In many ways Kushina was like a second mom to her. She was there during many important events in Sakura's journey to becoming a full-fledged ninja. Sakura was Kushina's favorite student in her class on sealing back in the Academy. She was in the stands cheering Sakura on alongside her son during her Chuunin exams. She was there next to the Fourth while he gave her the passing mark on her Jonin exam and even strongly recommended Tsunade take her on as her disciple. She recognized the fire behind those eyes as the same fire she possessed when she was that age and wanted nothing more than to see her growth and have her continue to be a shining influence on the village.

"Minato told me to tell you hello and that he wishes he could be here, but you know how it is being Hokage. I barely see him these days and I'm his wife!" She gave a light laugh and sighed, but Sakura could see the glint of pride in her eyes. Kushina was always very devoted her husband and was honored to be by his side, supporting him in any way she could, as he worked tirelessly as Hokage to promote Konoha's prosperity and the well-being of it's villagers.

"It's alright, I will see him first thing tomorrow, I actually had to argue in my report to have my first night back off and could tell from his reluctant letter of approval that he wasn't particularly pleased, from what I hear the hospital is in desperate need of highly skilled medics since Tsunade has been gone."

Kushina nodded before glancing at her wrist-watch. "Well, I must go now, but please have plenty of fun tonight for me and I can't wait to see what you on the training field. We will have to go over seals again, I'm sure you didn't have much opportunity to focus on them while you were gone. Goodnight Sakura!" Kushina waved and walked off. Sakura sat back down at the table. As soon as Kushina was gone, Naruto poofed across the table, smack dab between Ino and Shikamaru.

"Hey Sakura! Want to see something cool?!" Naruto yelled as he proceeded to clap his hands together and close his eyes. In an instant he was gone.

"Oh for gods-" Shikamaru was interrupted by a loud crash bang as Sakura looked up to see that Naruto crash-landed in the middle of a giant broken table in the back of the room. The people sitting at it revolting as they now were covered in their food and beverages, a few of them angrily pulling splinters out of their skin. In the next instant, Naruto was sitting right next to her, covered in wood pieces and dust, having squished a displeased Kakashi-sensei over into a further displeased Yamato.

"Wasn't that awesome, Sakura?! Dad finally taught me his famous teleportation jutsu last year! I'm still working hard on it, but I've come a long way! Soon I'll be better than him and finally will beat that Sasuke! I'll be the best ninja in the land, believe it!" Sakura's eye twitched. It certainly was impressive, but did he really have to do it right in the middle of a restaurant? She paused though at his mention of Sasuke, at that moment she looked around and realized he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where is Sa-"

"Oops, ehhhheheheh I've uh, gotta go!" Naruto ran off in a flash and Sakura turned to see Kushina still in the restaurant. Oops. Judging from the steam coming out of her ears and the endless shadow her face cast, she had clearly seen her sons antics and was none too pleased. She screamed furiously at her idiot spawn, hair rising up menacingly and chased him out of the restaurant. Kushina's booming yells and Naruto's girlish shrieks could be heard fading into the distance from inside the now silent establishment. Naruto had really gone and done it this time. The restaurant remained silent until one of the patrons began yelling about how their dinner was ruined, encouraging others to chime in with their complaints and demands of the restaurant owner to repay them, some also softly cursing at Naruto. He was still the son of the Fourth Hokage and as such, people tolerated his actions, despite many wanting to see him chained to the Hokage's office where he could be under a constant watch, away from the rest of the village.

Yamato gave a exasperated sigh, walking over to the scene of the destruction, forming his wood-jutsu hand signs, and put his hands on the broken wooden table to repair it. The waiters began busily cleaning up and bringing out more food.

"Just send the bill to the Hokage's office," Yamato instructed the annoyed restaurant owner with a wave of his hand before returning to his seat.

"Hey, before Naruto ran off, he mentioned Sasuke, where is Sasuke?" Sakura asked and took a bite of her food.

"Last I heard, he was assigned a mission out of the village. I'm afraid I cannot say more." Yamato responded through tight lips. Sakura nodded with understanding, knowing she could find out more from Minato tomorrow. In the meantime though, she couldn't help but wonder how he was doing now, although if she had any guess she would bet on him being happy. She had gotten a very poorly written letter from Naruto about a year ago, the ink on it was barely legible, but she could make out _'Sasuke and Tomoyo are married.'_

It had made sense, she was a beautiful, intelligent and skilled Uchiha, just like him, and Sasuke had always pined after her from the first day at the Academy, much to Sakura's dismay. He didn't make it obvious at all, but a girl can always tell these things. The way he would accidentally brush up against the Tomoyo in the hallway, while practically acting as though he was severely allergic to Sakura. He managed to get out of spending any more time than was necessary with her and always responded to her conversation attempts with an icy edge. He wanted nothing to do with her, and it broke her heart. When it came time to walk home, he always walked home with Tomoyo. Sakura remembered watching their backs with tears in her eyes as they laughed hysterically at something shared only between them, not a thought about anyone else.

They had started officially dating about a month prior to Sakura leaving, which she couldn't deny certainly helped fuel her desire to leave the village. Looking at them holding hands in public made her sick, how he bought her Dango and how they would just sit there, eating it and staring into each others eyes. It was what two people madly in love would do, and it depressed Sakura knowing that the man she fell for never felt the same about her as she did about him. And he never would.

After a few weeks of trying to distract herself from her Sasuke-induced depression, she decided it was time. Pulling herself together one brisk morning, she approached Tsunade, requesting they leave for their trip earlier than planned. All it took was mention of Village Hidden in the Hot Water and Tsunade was ready to go, bags packed and all. The Hot Water Village was known for being something of a paradise, complete with some of the best casinos in the world. It was the perfect bait for her mentor, and it was the perfect place to forget about someone.

A large stein of beer slid across the table and landed right under her nose, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"You've got some catching up to do if you're going to beat me, Sakura," Anko voiced her challenge from down the table, gesturing to the spread of empty glasses in front of her.

Sakura grinned evilly. She would put Anko under the table.

"You're gonna regret challenging me!" She immediately swatted away the beer put in front of her, instead reaching over to snatch the entire bottle of Shinobi liquor from the hand of the waiter who was refilling Yamato's drink. It was gone before he had a chance to blink. The entire bottle. Gone. Anko went wide-eyed, clearly rethinking her decision.

"Put it on my tab and bring me another!" Sakura slammed her fist on the table, leaving an indent. The waiter scurried off immediately and was back with her second bottle, he tried to politely mutter a request that she take it slowly, which she completely disregarded.

"Don't you know who my Sensei is? Tsunade, one of the three legendary Sannin and the most powerful kunoichi in all the lands would sooner walk off the edge of the earth than improperly train her student in any way!" She scoffed in annoyance. He clearly had no idea how powerful her ability to detoxify alcohol from her system was. She could drink straight for hours and hours and hardly feel anything, thanks to her excellent chakra control and manipulation. He paled and handed her the bottle, bowing politely and walking off.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Kiba jumped up, lifting his glass to the ceiling in Sakura's direction, whooping loudly.

"Drinks on the Hokage!" Sakura stood up on her seat and leaned back, yelling out to the restaurant with all the force in her lungs, raising her second bottle to pour directly down her throat. Let the night begin.

"TO SAKURAAA!" A giant cloud of smoke covered the table, clearing to reveal knocked over glasses and Naruto, standing tall and loudly toasting to her with his own glass. The back of his jacket had been torn away and he had burn marks on the edges of his hair and clothing. He gave Sakura that closed-eye, genuine smile, extending his drink to clink glasses with her, and looked at her expectantly. Despite his annoying antics, he sure had a way of reaching people, and making them want to reach back out. She stared at him for a second before giving him a wry smile, raising her own glass as they clinked together. She whispered a thank you to him. She didn't acknowledge him very often due to how often he was a complete thorn in her side, but at the end of the day they both knew how much they meant to one another as fellow members of Team 7, and he would always be one of her dearest friends.

Meanwhile, the room continued buzzing with a cheerful, celebratory energy. There weren't many opportunities for everyone to get together in honor of something positive, so the community took any chance it could to get together and get absolutely smashed. Judging from all the people there she didn't recognize, conversing with more people she didn't recognize, it clearly had less to do with Sakura returning and more of a desire to have an excuse to let loose. Her own table was not going to be caught improperly celebrating. Anko was busy boldly chatting up Kakashi, gulping her beer down, pretending she hadn't just challenged Sakura a few moments ago. Shika-Ino-Cho quickly had a shots competition going that Choji was leading. Hinata looked around, watching her friends with a subdued smile, her cheeks flushed, quietly sipping at her own drink. Naruto hung off of her, somehow tipsy already. Tenten gave a happy smile and a big shrug before clinking glasses with Neji, who was also politely drinking his drink, not holding back but not going as all out as some other attendees were.

"Oh god it burns!" Tenten gasped after she took a particularly big gulp and she ran off to the bathroom. Shikamaru gave a laugh, but Ino ran after her to make sure she was okay.

"Hey Sakura, are you okay?" Sakura looked at her previous Sensei with a slightly unfocused glance. He had a concerned hand placed on her shoulder, preventing her from leaning a little bit too much to one side.

"Oh shut up Kakashi - of course I am!" She flipped his hand off of her arm and stood up straight, waving a finger back and forth in front of an amused Kakashi before strutting off to the bathroom as well, worming her way around the boisterous shinobi. To the untrained eye she appeared completely composed, but he could see her still weaving a bit too much for someone supposedly able to hold her liquor like the best.

She pushed the bathroom door open to see it was just as packed as the rest of the building. Women waiting in lines, gossiping and checking their makeup and hair in the mirror. Tenten was seated on the sink counter, one shoulder leaning against the wall, her face in her hands, sobs wracking her entire frame.

"Tenten, I promise he doesn't see it that way at all," Ino reassured her friend, gently rubbing her shoulder with one hand and nursing a drink in the other. Sakura moved to stand next to them, accidentally pushing a random woman in the process, who gave Sakura an annoyed scoff before walking out. Sakura felt herself start to well up in anger before Tenten let out a loud sob and pulled herself out of some potentially serious trouble.

"Yes he does, Ino, how could he not!? He is practically royalty and so much better than me in every way, there is no way he could ever love me!" Tenten wailed, tears pouring down her face. Sakura froze. She was bad at this whole comforting people thing, but she knew how Tenten felt, or at least... she used to know. All too well, she thought with an inward sigh, before knocking it out of her mind. She didn't care to ever think about him more than necessary.

"Oh come on, we both know that isn't true," Ino rolled her eyes and continued, wiping at Tenten's tears trailing down her cheek with a tissue. "You keep him on his toes in every training session. Speaking of which, if you ask me, he requests to train with you far too often for him to not be interested in you. Guys are simple creatures, they want to be around something, then they be around that something." Tenten listened, her eyes looking like a wounded puppy before she softly nodded, wiping her nose with a tissue. Sakura looked at her terse expression in the mirror, forcing it to relax. She would not to let Ino's words unintentionally bring up old wounds that never seemed to heal right. Even the best medic in the world couldn't heal a heartbreak.

"Yeah... You're probably right... I just, I don't know what has gotten into me lately with all my feelings about him." She looked sheepishly, her cheeks bright red and glistening with tears.

"I think I have an idea of what I could be..." Sakura grinned and patted Tenten on the back, pulling both of her friends into a big, sappy embrace.

"Oh! I know! Let's go dancing! That'll get your head on straight, Tenten!" Ino said with mischievous glee as she grabbed both of her friends, not giving them a chance to consent, and pulled them through the crowd, which was at this point was in full-on party mode. Shinobi aimed to be extremely efficient in all manners of life, it only made sense that would extend to drinking as well.

Everyone seemed to be huddled around one table in particular, going so far as to perch all around the restaurant dividers and ceiling beams, trying to get the best view of an unofficial and impromptu Shinobi Arm-Wrestling competition. Sakura longingly wished to participate, but for all her strength there was no stopping Ino with a plan. It was probably also for the best for the village Shinobi, no need to have any broken limbs that she would only be responsible for the next morning.

They ran out of the restaurant and down a few streets, into the local bar/nightclub, which was also packed due to overflow from Yakiniku Q. It seemed lots of ninja had the same idea as Ino did. The Red Lantern was one of the best clubs in the Land of Fire, boasting a large, raised stage with huge speakers blasting whatever music was being DJ'ed or performed, with a large black polished dance floor, and bar area with plenty of luxurious seating. The entire establishment oozed sophistication. There were also sections of the club with lounge seating and raised platforms all around with high-class pole dancers skillfully flipping and twirling themselves around poles extending all the way up into the high ceiling.

Ino pulled them up to the bar and ordered Sakura one bottle of Shinobi liquor, ordered Tenten a Twisted Kunai - a bitter yet sweet drink that Tenten was very fond of, and for herself, she ordered an extra dry Martini. The three of them sauntered down to the dance-floor, drinks in hand, where they let loose entirely, laughing and dancing without the slightest care in the world, their sobriety slipping away further and further into the night. They loudly belted along to their favorite songs and made fun of the ones they didn't care for. Several shinobi, mostly male, mingled with them, but they always ended up moving away into the crowd or heading back to the bar for a refill. Ino looked a few particularly fine candidates up and down, but she didn't make any moves. In her letter she had mentioned she was casually dating this one man named Sai, but said she would save the details for when they hung out. With more and more drinks Sakura began to really consider leaving home with one of the men here, they were starting to look more and more enticing...

 _"Oh no, I think I'm drunk already,"_ Sakura suddenly thought with a hazy worry as she watched the world with that distinct lack of clarity that could only be attributed to one thing. She was so busy having fun and carrying on with her girl friends that she didn't stop long enough to pay attention to how her body was handling the constant liquor assault. She immediately put her hands up in an effort to concentrate her chakra to her bloodstream, but it was a lackluster effort seeing as she was already very intoxicated. If she focused and sober, she could eliminate all alcohol from her system before it had the chance to affect her, but once she was feeling the influence, her chakra control suffered greatly. If she really wanted to, she could activate her Hundred seal, but it definitely wasn't worth it to use such a powerful jutsu just for this.

She was going to be stuck like this until morning.

She groaned at the brief thought of having to wake up with a hangover, and also having to face Minato-sensei, especially after he received the bill from Yakiniku-Q. Oh well, that would be tomorrows problems. As powerful as the Fourth was, nobody could match Tsunade's temper, which she was acquainted with all too well. Giving a shrug, she threw up her last bottle of liquor, drained it and slammed it on the bar. She managed to miss and instead sent it slamming down on the floor, where it shattered, glass flying everywhere and people screaming, trying to protect themselves from the explosive impact. But leave it to bartender-nin to save the day, within seconds he had the area completely swept up and free from glass. He frowned harshly at Sakura and moved his hand in a cutting motion over his neck, his official notice of cutting her off.

"Nyeah, yeah I hear ya, I was done anyways – hic-" Sakura mumbled, and turned to look just in time to see Tenten make a beeline for the restroom.

"Oh no," Ino said, chasing after Tenten.

"Make way, sick woman comin' through!" Sakura barged ahead and pushed through the aggravated line, dragging Tenten behind her and managing to get her to a toilet before she was sick all over the bathroom floor. Sakura and Ino tried to drunkenly comfort the poor girl as best they could and held back her hair which had come undone in a curly mess from it's usual perfectly styled buns. Once she was done, Ino chimed in with concern, making her best attempt at being a sober voice of reason.

"W-We really, really need togetherhomeSakura" Ino slurred and leaned into Sakura, unable to make much of an attempt.

"-hic- Here, I'll carry 'er," Sakura picked up her friend bridal style, who was too far gone at this point to do anything other than weakly groan in her arms.

Together, Sakura and Ino weaved their way out of the club and drunkenly dashed through the full-moon lit streets making their way to Tenten's home, opting not to take the rooftops due to their state of sobriety.

They eventually reached her house on the edge of town and Ino fumbled around in Tenten's purse, trying to pull her keys out. Once free, she tried unlocking the door, dropping the keys several times in the process, which Sakura did laughed harder and harder at her for. Ino stuck her tongue out with a _Nyeh!_ sound before she finally managed to get the door open, almost causing Sakura to fall as she had been leaning on it. Ino won the last laugh. Sakura barely recovered, almost all of her ninja skills having left her at this point, and she stumbled in the dark for a bit before Ino found the light-switch.

"Wow, shes sure gottan awesome pad" Sakura noted, walking with a noticeable sway into the bedroom and placed Tenten on her bed and pulled the covers up over her, making sure to move her nightstand trashcan closer to the edge of the bed. She would probably need that in the morning. Once Sakura checked to make sure her friend was sleeping safely, she gave the okay to Ino for them to leave.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go see what Sai is up to, I had fun tonight and will see you tomorrow," Ino said to Sakura with a blush spreading on her face once they were outside Tenten's house.

"Psht, wrap him around your finger and tell me aaaaallaboutit later." Sakura waved her off approvingly.

"Hah! As if I'd do anything else," She said with her famous flirtatious hair flip before dashing off through the streets.

Sakura looked after her friend as she turned a corner and disappeared from view, and for the first time all night, she found herself entirely alone. She looked up to the sky and it must have been nearly 2am already, soon enough the sun would be rising. She fell to her knees with a loud groan at being reminded of her duties.

"I suppose I had better head home," She gave a defeated sigh and started stumbling down the silent streets, making her way to her apartment.

It was eerily quiet in this part of town. The towering, ancient trees loomed overhead, gently swaying in the cool breeze and filtering out most of the moonlight. She sloppily half-walked, half-danced her way home, softly singing and humming to the club music replaying itself in her head. Her apartment was almost on the complete opposite side of the Konohagakure, closer to the Hokage's office, versus Tenten's house located in the cluster of houses near the main gate. She had to do something to keep herself entertained.

"But ohhhh baby ~ when you hold me closer, oh I just can't ~ I just can't get enough uhuhhh." Sakura passionately sung to herself, pretending to be the lead singer in her favorite pop group, dancing dramatically down the back-alleys.

"You know you want to, you know you feel it too, I ju-"

Her off-key singing was interrupted by a loud bang sounding overhead, and then several smaller clangs followed, almost like clamoring footsteps on a tin rooftop. She jumped into a loosely defensive position, pulling herself together to be ready for anything, her eyes darting, trying to discern exactly where the noise came from. Damn drunkenness. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw what looked like a person appear to slump down on their knees, right on the edge of the roof. He remained upright for a brief second before swaying and losing balance, falling face first down the side of the building. The rooftops in this area of the village were nearly four stories tall and this person was destined to meet the ground at a very swift pace, and would likely be a huge mess at the end of it.

Instincts kicked in, as dull as they were, and she darted forward, jumping several meters in front of her just in time to grab the ninja mid fall and pull them in, spinning around to break the fall with her back. The concrete beneath her broke in a plume of dust as she failed to properly break their fall with the correct amount of chakra.

"Ahhh - ng," She groaned and coughed, the fall having rattled her more than she'd like to admit and sat up, her head spinning. She noticed her body felt warm and her eyes looked down to see her chest and arms almost completely soaked through with a dark red liquid.

 _"Blood!"_ She immediately snapped out of her dizzy haze and set the set the ninja down on the ground, ripping off the blood coated ANBU mask to see just who she was dealing with before she proceeded any further.

"Ohhhhh my god!" Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened in shock.

It was Itachi Uchiha.

And he looked like death.

He was almost unrecognizable, but those long stress lines down his face immediately gave him away. The color had all but drained from his face and he had large amounts of blood pooling in his mouth and draining out of the side. His long black hair was soaked with blood and clung all over his body and uniform. He was out cold and his breathing was almost imperceptible.

 _"God, there is so much blood..."_ Sakura internally panicked for a split second before she got straight to treating the Uchiha who was clearly losing his fight against death closing in. There wouldn't be enough time to get him to the hospital, she had to act immediately.

Sakura turned him over on his side so he wouldn't choke on his own blood, placing her pink jacket underneath his head and pulling off his shirt in order to properly treat him.

 _"Why did this have to happen tonight of all nights..."_ She sighed in frustration.

She clapped her hands together forcefully.

"Ninja Art: Strength of a Hundred Seal!" Thick, black chakra shadows flowed from her glowing mark and wrapped all over her body, infusing her with all of the chakra pent up inside of her forehead seal. With all traces of the alcohol purged from her bloodstream and all of her chakra senses heightened to their peak, she placed her hands on Itachi's chest, scanning all over his body.

 _"His heart is severely weakened and failing,"_ Sakura sent a bright green chakra pool to his chest cavity, encasing his heart and infusing it with her own energy and strength. It slowly started to pump more and more blood and beat normally again, however it's vessels were still severely damaged and would need lots of careful attention, but something had to be done about his lungs, which were continuing to fill with blood and impeding oxygen intake. His heart would be okay in the meantime.

Deft fingers moved onward to his diaphragm, an even brighter green chakra pooling into his lungs, repairing the damage to his capillaries.

" _My god, his lungs are in awful condition,"_ While she was working, she felt bumps along the lining of the bottom of his lungs. Older, already healed vessels. _"Old_ _blood vessels... How long has this been going on, and for it to be this bad?-"_ She shook her head, pushing away the concern from her thoughts. Her head must remain focused or else this man could lose his life. At this point, he was too weak for her to stop working on him long enough to go get assistance. She was all he had until he was stable, and she could not fail him. It could not happen again.

A frown fell on her face as she sensed an unusually large presence of antibodies surrounding the areas of damage in particular, leading her to believe she was working with an autoimmune disorder. All signs thus far pointed to it, the severe damage to his lungs, his weakened heart, the excess antibodies. If that were the case here, then there had to be more damage elsewhere. They had to be stopped, now. Sending out enormous swaths of chakra, she worked to do her best to destroy the antibodies, making sure not to damage any other cells in the process. While she was finding antibodies, she realized the extent of the damage to the Uchiha's body. It was not just his lungs and heart that were affected, his kidneys also received a huge brunt of the damage. Her quick scan also revealed tons of other severely-inflamed blood vessels all over his body.

 _"This is not looking good,"_ She wiped the dripping sweat off her brow with her shirt and got to work.

The hours crawled by with her still working on the still unconscious-nin on the cold concrete of a back alley-way. Sakura pushed herself to finish up stabilizing him quickly, before she ran out of the last of her seal chakra. She had managed to stop the bleeding in his lungs and get the excess fluid out, as well as kill off all the antibodies she could find. It would take research and steady hospital treatment to figure out why his body was creating them in the first place, a luxury that couldn't be afforded at the moment. His heart was still beating with a relative strength considering how weak it was. She was now working on stabilizing his kidneys and repairing the damage done to them before they started failure too. He wasn't out of the woods yet, but he was at least not metaphorically on fire anymore.

The thick, black chakra lines and her seal, which had been slowly fading the past hour, finally disappeared completely, and with it almost all of her strength. She felt her head spin and she nearly fell over on top of Itachi from pure exhaustion, but managed to hold herself up while she gathered her shaky breaths. She was in the peak of her condition and easily one of the best medical ninjas in the entire land, yet even it had taken every bit of her to treat this man. Medical work, especially fine-precision work such as destroying antibodies and repairing damaged blood vessels and lung capillaries on this scale, would be impossible to do solo for any other ninja. Most complex treatments required a full team to work with in order to be executed effectively, but thanks to Tsunade's tutelage she now had the microscopic chakra control to go about it and an immense chakra reserve to keep her going beyond what most people thought capable.

Sitting up, she looked around, realizing the sun would be up soon and soon people would be on the streets.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, what do I do!" She freaked out, having not had enough time to think about her next move.

"I have to take him to the hospital right away!" Picking him up in her arms, she mustered up some of her last remaining strength and dashed down the alley towards the main street to the Hokage's office. Moments later, a blood caked hand reached up to grab her collar, pulling at it with a weak determination. She looked down with surprise into the hollow, jet-black eyes of the barely conscious Itachi Uchiha. He looked like he was seeing right through her and focusing on whatever lay beyond.

"D-Don't..." He quietly whispered, his voice hoarse, his grip tightening on her collar and pulling her head down closer to his. "No... hospital... nobody. T-T-" A series of intense coughs wracked his entire body, blood splattering out as he jerked his hand up to his mouth to stop it. He looked at Sakura with one last soul-less expression before his eyes rolled back and closed, a very small trickle of blood spilling out of his lips and down his chin.

"No-no-no-no! Aaagh!" She exasperatedly spun around in circles, looking around and frantically wracking her brain, trying to think of where she should go. People were already starting to come out of their residences and she had to dip back into the alley, hiding behind stacks of shipping crates. She desperately needed to get him to the hospital where he could be properly treated with a full team, but he had put himself under a lot of strain asking her to not tell a soul.

 _"Fucking fine! I'll listen to your idiotic request, but if you die on me, I'll kill you myself!"_ She turned around and began sneaking through the streets as fast as she could manage, occasionally scaling up buildings and jumping from rooftop to rooftop when it was clear from traffic. Avoiding all attention was of utmost importance, how could she answer why she was carrying a badly wounded, unconscious Itachi Uchiha?

She arrived at her apartment complex roof and gently placed Itachi over her shoulder, doing her best not to disturb his lungs, and dropped down over the edge of the building. If she were to enter her building through the front door, someone would most assuredly see her. She skillfully began scaling down the exterior, using window frames as foot and hand-holds, careful to move silently. Upon reaching her window, she pulled a pin out of her forehead protector and infused it with a bit of chakra, wiggling it into the window locking mechanism until it was unlocked. Pushing the window open she jumped through and immediately closed it behind her.

 _"I'll definitely have to get better locks, I should not have been able to do that."_ She noted and carried the Uchiha into her bedroom, gingerly setting him on her bed, the only place long enough for him to fully lay down. The next best option was the single loveseat in her living room that would serve better as a child's bed, or the floor. As much as she didn't want blood on her bed, she wasn't just going to leave this deathly-ill man to lay on the floor, even though he was definitely used to worse conditions, being in ANBU and all.

She used up the very last ounce of her spare-able chakra supply to heal the new bleeds in his lungs from him trying to speak.

 _"Stupid fool, stupid, stupid, stupid fucking Uchiha!"_

By the time she was finished, she had collapsed on the side of the bed, slumping down closer to the floor, her shoulders leaning into the mattress. It was the first time that night that she had stopped rushing. As she stared blankly at the floor, the realization of the extent of everything that had transpired washed over her.

Itachi Uchiha had fallen from the sky and nearly died on her watch and she had spent nearly all of her energy and exhausted her most powerful healing jutsu keeping him alive. How did any of this even come to happen? When was the last time she had even seen Itachi? She was pretty sure she could count on one hand all the times she had seen the Uchiha clan heir, he mostly kept his presence to the shadows, only appearing anywhere if absolutely necessary. He was never out at any social events, never at any restaurants. Sakura knew almost nothing about his life besides the general surface information everyone else knew, but his reputation always preceded him as one of the most highly skilled ninja in the village. Sasuke was so very determined to beat his brother in all ways, when he wasn't with Tomoyo he could be found training, but as far as she knew he never succeeded at it, his brother always outpacing him. People hailed him as the second best ninja in the village, only beaten out by the Fourth Hokage. But all of that that was said over four years ago, who knows what all had changed between now and then with him.

 _"Clearly something major for him to have gotten this bad. How did nobody even notice how sick he is? I know he is careful and stealthy, but there is only so much you can hide when you work with some of the most observant ninja in the land,"_ She pulled herself up onto the bed, pondering the puzzling man while he slept, a relaxed look spread on his face. Auto-immune disorders on his scale don't just appear overnight and remembering back to the already healed damage she had discovered, it had been an ongoing thing for awhile. She looked at his tattered, stained ANBU uniform, his rat mask pinned to his arm, but in typical undercover fashion, none of it gleamed any significance or gave away any clues as to the Uchiha's abilities or responsibilities in the village. It was just a standard uniform. She just assumed he had to at least be one of the ANBU captains by now and was determined to find out more details about him later.

She fell back into the mattress next to him, exhaustion hitting her like a truck. Further treatment would have to wait until morning and he could explain to the fist why he had refused hospital attention. She couldn't help the small smile spread across her face at everything that transpired. She had saved a life, after all, and that always felt good. Before long she had fallen into a deep sleep, the sun just beginning to filter in through the blinds.

-AN-

Phew! First chapter done! -wipes brow- I'm sure the others will not be nearly as long as this one. I really wanted to end it with meeting Itachi, this is an ItaSaku fic afterall, not just a Sakura fic :) I have the main plot and the next few chapters reasonably planned out so there will be more guaranteed updates, although I don't know how long I plan this to be. I apologize if this idea has already been done by someone, I have read through most, but not all, of the ItaSaku Fanfictions on here, I have just had the idea rolling around in my head for a few weeks now and decided to go for it! :) If it has indeed been done, please let me know and I will do my best to maintain as many differences as possible without interfering with my plans for this fic.

Also, huge credit to the chuunin livejournal diagnosis of Itachi's disease for the immense help in figuring out a realistic cause of his ailment in the show. His illness will be based on this, but I might change a few things here and modify it.

To explain a few questions you might have regarding where this deviates from the canon plotline, Madara actually was killed by Hashirama, Obito was killed under that boulder, thus the war never happened and the nine-tails attack never happened either, Minato, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina are alive as a result. Danzo was imprisoned after his assassination attempt on the Third, removing him from the field and Itachi never had to kill his clan. Any other details about the current world will be fleshed out as necessary, but those are the main points that might not end up being explained.

Also, I do plan for there to be M-rated content of the lemon variety in the future, it is one of the reasons I'm writing this fic, so keep reading ;)

Please review and follow if you enjoyed this! All constructive criticisms welcome!


	2. Chapter 2

_Knock, Knock_

"Mmmmmph," The pile of tangled sheets and limbs let out a soft groan and shifted slightly. Her bleary, tear encrusted eyes slowly opened.

" _What?!"_

Sakura shot upright, looking all around her in horror. Instead of her tranquil sunlit bedroom, she awoke to a seemingly endless, pitch-black landscape, wind blowing at her from every direction, but nothing dotting the horizon for as far as she could see. _"What is going on?!"_ Pink strands violently whipped in her face. Pinning them down was an exercise in futility as they just slipped right out of her fingers again. The bed had disappeared and she was now sitting, curled up on a freezing black glass surface that served as the earth beneath her feet, stretching endlessly in all directions. She bent forward and looked down, meeting the gaze of her slightly blurry and darkened reflection. She tilted her head, it tilted it's head. She reached down and it reached up, mirroring her every move.

" _Just a reflection."_ Her finger gently tapped the cold surface, meeting her reflection's finger on the other side.

As soon as she made contact, it deviated from being her reflection and now acted according to it's own will. It's eyes glowed bright crimson, the pupil taking on an almost toad-like appearance, and it's face spread into a maniacal smile, the grin almost tearing it's head in half, it's cheek skin ripping to reveal a terrifying set of black teeth that dripped with a black liquid.

Immediately, Sakura tried to pull away her contact with the being, but it had now had reached through up the glass, latching a heavy, thick void-like ooze onto her hand, snaking it up her arm, grabbing and trying to pull her down with an unbelievably powerful force. The reflective ooze crawled across her body, miring her and trying to pull her to the other side of the glass.

Sakura tried desperately to escape, twisting and contorting her body in an effort to break out of the slime which was quickly hardening. It now had half of her body in a vice-like grip and was creeping up to her head.

" _Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"_ She internally screamed as it slithered up her neck and jaw. The last thing she saw before her world went black were those red, toad-like eyes staring up at her.

"Hey there, pretty little thing, what are you doing stumbling out here all alone?" A man drawled menacingly from behind her. Sakura whipped around to find she was on the misty, moonlit streets of back alley in Konoha, and a quick glance down revealed she was wearing her clothes she wore to her welcome home party.

"Stupid bitch, didn't anyone teach you that streets are dangerous at night?" Another man chimed in with a nasty, heaving laugh. Sakura looked at the group of impossibly large men that were coming closer, feeling a cold sweat creep up the back of her neck, and she took several steps back into an alley, planning her escape before her back was met with a concrete wall that spanned several stories tall. Sheer faces of buildings equally as tall surrounded her on either side of the alley. There would be no spanning her way out. Terror clouded her mind and she began to panic.

"Well girlie, you're about to learn a very important lesson." A faceless man reached out and grabbed her hand, the others following right behind him. She screamed in response but a man quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. She bit him as hard as she could, but he did not yield. He didn't even seem to notice.

"Hey, you promised I would go first," One yelled and yanked her arm into his burning-hot body, almost ripping the socket out of her arm.

"No, I'm getting my fucking turn, I'm the one who saw her, I get my fucking turn now." Another voiced with a brutish anger, yanking her back into his freezing-cold body.

Tears streamed down Sakura's face as she screamed for help, only this time no sound came out. She desperately grabbed at her throat, using all the force in her lungs. It was no use. Nobody could hear her. Nobody would come to her rescue and she was unable to break out of the mans grip no matter how hard she struggled. He was just far too strong.

"It'll all be over soon." He turned her around and forcefully pushed her to the ground, her forehead hitting the street and beginning to bleed. Sakura turned back up in fear as he began to unbuckle his pants with a disgusting leer of a smile.

" _It's hopeless, I can't escape them... They're going to rape and kill me,"_ Sakura scrambled to curl herself up into a ball back against the wall, trying to stop the other men who had now rushed forward to pin her limbs open. She continued to scream soundlessly at the men, locking eyes with the one walking towards her.

Suddenly, the man's body flickered ever so slightly.

Sakura looked to see the other men begin to flicker too. A limb would disappear and reappear. They began pausing oddly, jerkily acting as though they were reversing and fast forwarding their movements. They were... Glitching?

Before Sakura had a chance to react, a shadowy figure appeared at the other end of the alley. Illuminated poorly by the street lights, it began to slowly walk down the alley towards the men, the sound of footsteps breaking the silence.

"H-H. Ey. Wh-Wh-Wh... Wh-you-H?" One man stuttered, his speech pausing and his body jerking, fighting going in reverse, trying to move to face the figure, but only able to do so in short bursts.

The figure lunged forward, running down the alley with thundering footsteps.

"ShhhhANARROOOO!" It boomed while landing a punch on the lagging man, sending him exploding in a beautiful plume of blood and guts. Parts of his midsection flew against the wall next to Sakura with a splat, who just sat curled up on the ground in a wide-eyed shock at her apparent savior.

Not wasting a moment, the figure went to town on the other perpetrators. A swift hand grabbed one man by the head, tearing it clear off of his neck and throwing it at another man, the sheer force of it sending him flying backwards down the alley. Limbs were torn off of one mercilessly and sent bouncing off the building walls. The unknown person danced around the alley, ripping them apart with a sadistic glee. Blood splatters covered absolutely everything, including Sakura. The stench of death burned Sakura's nostrils.

The figure walked back over to where the last man was attempting to escape on failing legs, gasping and clutching at his broken rips. As his death neared, he fell over, whimpering, before a fist turned his face concave and he went silent. With all enemies dead and scattered everywhere, the figure gave a pleased sigh, standing triumphant in a pool of blood. It took off it's gloves and wrung them out, the blood of the mutilated assailants rushing out in a soft splatter on the floor.

Sakura continued to be silent, unsure yet of what this person exact intentions with her. It turned around and walked towards the shivering girl on the floor. After what seemed like an eternity, the footsteps stopped just short of her. Sakura winced, closing her eyes and balling up in fear, whispering to herself, trying prepare for whatever happened next.

"Come on, it's alright, I'm sorry I went overboard. I don't like people messing with my girls mind." The figure spoke, squatting down to her level. Sakura gasped, she recognized that voice all too well now.

Sakura looked up to the face of herself, gazing listlessly into her own sympathetic green eyes. She almost didn't recognize herself she was so covered in blood, but that bright pink hair and red forehead protector stood out.

"Let's get you out of this hell." Sakura didn't fight back as her stronger self took her into her blood covered arms bridal style, holding her tight. Together, they walked out of the alleyway and into a blinding light.

–

Sakura's eyes flew open, looking up at her bedroom ceiling.

"Oh thank god!" She swiftly sat up, slowing her rapid breathing with steady breaths, holding her head in her hands, trying to make sense of what had happened.

She had had possibly the most realistic nightmare she had ever had in her entire life. It was strange, she hadn't had any nightmares since she was a little girl, and even then they were just about Sasuke and her friends ignoring her, or failing a test at the Academy. Completely harmless subjects compared a nightmare about a rape attempt from brutish men while she was unable to act.

Then it dawned on her. The shadowy figure, the alley, voiceless screaming, the glitching men, another Sakura coming to her rescue.

She had been trapped in a Genjutsu.

And a very strong one at that.

It had been a number of years since she was last put under a Genjutsu, and even then it was just from some wannabe hot-shot using it to steal from people, who felt a world of regret when he eventually used it on the wrong person. It absolutely paled in comparison to the one she had just pulled herself from. This one had taken her and reduced her entire ego to a mere shell of it's real self. When she remembered back to the men first advancing on her, she didn't recognize herself at all. Her actions, her fear, her paralyzing inability to protect herself. The real Sakura would have turned them upside down before they even got the first sentence out. The Sakura she became cowered before them, ready to give up.

But she had managed to escape, barely. Thank god for Inner Sakura. If it weren't for her extensive meditation, her spars with Ino, and her research on Genjutsu releases, she fearfully realized that she would not have had the skill and training required to break herself free. Call it a split personality, call it an advanced ninjutsu technique, call it the will to survive. However you wanted to describe it, it's power in pulling Sakura back to herself was undeniable at this point.

" _But who? But how? Why?"_ She thought. _"Who would want to put me under?"_

A ferocious series of knocks sounded at the front door, and with it everything came flooding back to her in a blurry, disorganized haze. Her welcome home party, the club, walking Tenten home, Itachi Uchiha falling out of the sky and her saving him. Her bringing him back here...

Looking over, she saw Itachi was gone.

A cold realization washed over her with horror.

" _He was the one... He did it. He put me under the fucking Genjutsu."_ She grabbed her hair in a shaking fury, her nerves spiraling into overdrive. Her eyes began to glaze over as her mind whirled a mile a minute, piecing it all together and trying to clearly remember how last night really transpired.

" _But why?"_

When she had tried to take him to the hospital, he had refused, weakly stuttering for her to not tell anyone before he passed back out.

" _He must have tried to make me forget all the events of last night, putting me in a Genjutsu to transplant my real memories of saving him with fake ones of being attacked by rapists."_ But it hadn't worked, she managed to break out of it and still remember everything. It still didn't make sense though, why would he not want her to remember saving him? She thought back to when he had weakly asked her to not tell anyone, he must have really meant it.

Waving the questions of of her mind, she balled her fists up and seethed to herself with determination.

"I will get some answers out of him if it's the last thing I do."

 _KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK_

" _Oh shit."_ Flipping the mass of blankets off of her, she scrambled across the bed and jumped off, tripping on a sheet that was still wrapped around her leg and falling on her face with a dull thud. It didn't phase her though, as she jumped right back up and darted to the small, face-height hallway mirror.

A hot mess looked back at her.

Her green eyes popped in contrast to her bloodshot scleras. Her dark circles were miles long and the pink diamond on her forehead was gone, which was probably the biggest disappointment of this entire situation. Her years of building chakra, gone in one night.

" _Fucking Uchiha!"_ Inner Sakura was boiling over. Yanking her pink hair down was a futile effort, it just popped right back up, and her cowlicks had cowlicks.

" _Whatever,"_ She thought. She didn't have time to make it look presentable. She ran to peep out the door hole to see who it was before swinging it open.

"Well, _someone_ must have had a good night after I left!" Ino chimed with a smug grin and a small flick at a piece of her skyward-bound hair, pushing her way past Sakura and into the apartment before the pinkette had a chance to stop her.

"Hey, is that blood on your shirt?"

Sakura froze. In her scramble she had completely forgotten about how she had passed out last night without changing. Instantly regretting her decision to check her appearance in the small mirror instead of her full-body bathroom mirror, she looked down to see her clothing was indeed almost completely covered in burgundy stains.

"Ahaha, so it is! Wow I don't, uh, remember... I must have blacked out," She clutched her head dramatically, closing her eyes to Ino's intensely questioning stare, rubbing at her temples in a fake attempt to bring back a fake memory to cover up the real one that she couldn't tell anyone about. Not yet at least. Despite her being the victim here, she still wasn't sure they would believe her or even take her side. Itachi Uchiha never did anything without a good reason and he always acted with the villages best interests. At least, he had in the past. Now, she wasn't so sure how he acted anymore, having a hard time believing it was in the villages best interests to Genjutsu one of it's top medics. She pushed him out of her mind.

"Oh, now it's coming back to me... On my way home a group of men tried to attack me, I must have gone overboard in my drunken state. I hope I didn't kill them, haha!" She sheepishly rubbed a hand through her hair, praying to anything that could hear her thoughts that Ino would buy it. The last thing she needed was her friend dragged into this.

"Interesting," Ino continued looking at her through piercing, narrowed eyes, Sakura willed the beads of sweat on her forehead back into her pores. "Well..."

 _Thump, thump._

"I'm glad you're okay! Serves those men right, they should know better than to attack ninja women!" Sakura's heart swelled with relief and began to beat normally again. She put on a proud face, nodding in agreement with her friend.

"Lovely place you have here! Oh, duh, almost forgot, Minato sent me to get you. He isn't pleased, but judging from your face you've figured that out already. If I were you, I'd head down there now," She gave a wave and walked to the doorway, pausing, "Definitely shower though, you smell like the trash bin behind the butchers shop." She gave a cheerful grin, waving and closing the front door behind her.

Sakura waited a few seconds until her friends footsteps faded and dashed back into the bedroom. She scanned under the bed, slammed open all closets, the washroom, the bathroom, searching for any clues. There was no sign of Itachi anywhere in her house. She realized she was wearing the only traces of last nights debacle. His own blood, yet no way to prove it.

" _There just has to be something here."_ She tore through the sheets, blankets and pillows and discovered it was all brand new, still smelling of the store packaging. _"He replaced everything?!"_ Ripping the sheets up, she also realized she now had a brand new mattress, the same exact kind as her old one of course. He had replaced her entire bed setup while she was unconscious. The only blood found on the bed was on her side, despite it being mostly on his side last night. Leave it to ANBU, every detail had to match up. He really didn't want her to remember the true events of last night. Whatever he was hiding, she would find out. And he would suffer the consequences.

"He. Will. Pay." She balled up her fists and yelled to herself in frustration, marching over to the bathroom to take a quick shower and get out the door before Minato sent a squad after her.

–

Dashing down the hallway, Sakura reached the door to the Hokage's office. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, pulling herself together and straightening her ninja uniform before pushing the large wooden doors open.

"Come in Sakura, I'm glad you could join us." Sakura immediately ran up to his desk, forced her head down in an act of utmost subservience, getting on her knees and bowing heavily before her Hokage. She could hear the light snickers of his assistant, Koto Aburame. Sakura remembered him as one of the jonin from when she was in the academy and as a stuck-up prick, but a brilliant mind nonetheless and he served Minato extraordinarily well.

"My Lord, I am so sorry at my actions, I pro-"

"No need for that Sakura, please stand up." She turned her head up in surprise at him continuing to fill out paperwork, no sign of displeasure anywhere on his face. "Ino was just here and told me everything."

Sakura paused, panic briefly running through her mind. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what her dear friend had relayed to Minato.

"I want to thank you, Tsunade has clearly taught you well. Although I will say I am surprised that you were attacked in the village. One would think people would know better than to try to steal from the famed pink-haired Hidden Leaf kunoichi," He casually pondered with a hand on his chin.

"No matter. They and their camp south of the village have already been dealt with and won't be returning. Surely that will send a warning to any remaining bands of thieves to think twice before robbing anyone in the Village proper. It is a relief to know the shinobi of our land continue to act with justice, even when not under direct instructions to do so." He gave her a warm smile and looked back down to continue his paperwork.

"Thank you my Lord. I, was only doing what anyone else would have done..." She ran a hand through her hair, warily accepting and processing his gratitude towards her, making sure to not act too surprised, as Minato was extremely perceptive. What exactly had Ino told him? What was all this about the camp south? Why was he not furious with her, why was he acting like she was some hero, when as far as he should know, she had simply gotten black-out drunk and skipped her first day of work. Then it all began to add up. She had told Ino that she had been attacked my several men last night. She must have relayed that to Minato. And leave it to Ino to come up with such an intricate and believable lie, if she had to leave the village and run to catch the perpetrators to the south, it would have taken up most of the day and she logically would be returning to report it around now.

"However, that being said," Sakura began to sweat as the Hokage continued. "I am troubled by the bills from Yakiniku Q I received this morning, one claiming that my son teleported into a dining table and listed the costs associated with the damage that resulted, and another one with a note on it that a pink-haired girl bought rounds of drinks for the entire village last night under the Hokage tab." He gave a sigh, spinning around slightly in his chair to where Sakura could only see part of his face, hands resting on the arm-rests and clasped in front of his mouth as he looked outside in thought. "My son's reckless destruction of property is one thing, however you know that the Hokage tab is only for important guests of the village, and that I in no way sanctioned this. Therefore, you will be working off the total amount of the bill in the form of extra hospital shifts as repayment." He spun around and handed her the Yakiniku Q receipt. Stepping forward to accept it from him, she took it from his hands with a bow. As she began to unfurl it, she watched in horror as it continued to unravel and fall to the floor, where it pooled in a large mass of paper at her feet.

"Y-Yes Hokage-Sama. It is the least I could do." She gave a pained smile and a bow before gathering up the receipt in her arms, the pile so large she almost couldn't see above it.

At that moment, the wall, which was actually a cleverly disguised door, to Sakura's right opened, and in walked an ANBU agent. They swiftly brushed past Sakura, standing at attention in front of the Fourth's desk, their right arm across their chest. Sakura backed away to the side, standing next to Koto where she could get a better view of the newcomer. They had on a new mask she did not recognize.

"My Lord, I am back from my scouting mission with an urgent report." The ANBU member spoke in a deep voice. Sakura's ear piqued.

"You may continue."

The ANBU agent turned their head slightly in Sakura's direction, then back to the Fourth, "My Lord, it concerns matters of state. I believe this is for your ears only."

"Anything you want to say to me, you can say to me with Sakura present," He held up a hand before continuing, "I trust her with classified information, more than some of my advisers at times." He sat his head on the back of clasped hands. "You are also free to remove your mask, you will most likely be dealing with her in the future as she is one of our – if not the – top medic of Konoha." Sakura tilted her head slightly. Would she soon be working with the ANBU directly? Normally they were treated in an entirely separate unit from the main hospital, hidden beneath the Hokage complex, and as far as she knew she had only been assigned to work at the main Hospital.

The masked ANBU member gave a pause before obeying orders and pulling it off their face.

It _was_ him. Sakura knew she recognized that voice.

" _Itachi!"_ Inner Sakura bubbled up, seething from the depths of her mind. Sakura blinked her eyes several times, controlling her breathing to a steady, even pace, and letting the receipt pile in her arms cover her face up to her eyes. She knew she couldn't outwardly give the slightest notion of any intensity towards him while Minato was in the room. The Fourth was excellent at reading people, and anything involving his ANBU was especially sensitive to his attention.

"You sent me and Shisui out to the villages near the border of the Land of Hot Water, acting on a report of villages being devastated by explosions, damaging supplies destined for Konoha and murdering villagers. While we investigated one of the small villages surrounding the City of Steam, we were ambushed by a large group of ninja, many of which had glowing red eyes with a toad's pupil, some with no Dojutsu present. All enemies present operated on an A-Rank level and used Mist and Lightning village techniques." Itachi took a small breath before continuing. Sakura stared him down, studying his every word with an intensity. Waiting to hear what he had to say.

"They had the ability to manipulate blood. Specifically, it appeared they were able to manipulate the iron present in blood, judging by how one tried to take me down. We were able to stop a few, the enemy proving to be more difficult than anticipated. It appeared that they were only looking to obtain information, for what I could not gleam. We tried to pry into their minds with the Sharingan, but were met with violent resistance, presumably the Dojutsu's doing. Most of the ninja fled into the forest in all directions and Shisui and I split up to follow them. I was able to bring down the group I followed, but upon returning to where we diverged, I followed his trail leading into the Land of Hot Water, which went cold after a few hours of tracking. I was also unable to sense his presence at any of his usual places in the village. It makes me... nervous that he did not return, as such I am requesting that a search party be put out to find him." Itachi finished speaking and set his jaw tersely, his gaze remaining impassive. Minato looked at the ninja with a grave look.

"This is most troubling news. If anything, Shisui should have been the first one back. The fact he hasn't returned yet does not bode well." Itachi looked down slightly, his Adam's apple tightening at the Fourth's words. Minato noticed this and sat back with a stern, focused expression. Sakura vaguely remembered that Itachi was friends with good Shisui, the two always training together. She knew that Shisui was an incredibly talented ninja, as he was one of the few who managed to actively keep Itachi on his toes. He had been in the Police Force for as long as she could remember, but apparently he had started working with ANBU at some point also. Whether he was officially ANBU, she couldn't gleam from their dialogue.

"You mentioned the enemy in question had a glowing red eye and a pupil resembling that of a toad's. That can only be the Chinoike Clan, an extinct clan with a Dojutsu called the Ketsuryugan, which can indeed manipulate iron, and by extension, manipulate blood. Koto, I'm going to need all papers and all history tombs that contain information on the Chinoike Clan and the Ketsuryugan, immediately. While you are out, bring me Gaku, Neji and Yoji. Do not tell them anything, just bring them straight here." Koto scurried off down the hall, following orders diligently.

Minato turned to Itachi and spoke in a low voice, stressing the importance of his words, "I'm going to need you to not alert the rest of the Uchiha clan – particularly the police force – for the moment. We will inform them as soon as possible of course, they will prove a monumental help in this situation I know, but for the moment we need to research. If I remember from my studies, the Uchiha have a particularly touchy relationship with the Chinoike clan, and we need parties to remain as impartial as we can in the intelligence gathering phase until we have a better idea of what we're up against. It would not bode well for Fugaku and his team to go firing off into the forest, blindly motivated by Shisui's current status." Minato frowned, a grave look on his face.

Itachi nodded in response, and glanced over at Sakura, for the first time that evening making a brief, but direct eye contact with her. He still appeared impassive, but Sakura could feel a cold intensity in it, but she couldn't quite pin down exactly what kind of emotions and thoughts were responsible. It completely threw her off, her heart began to thump irregularly and she felt her throat try to close up, but she quickly pulled herself together, doing her best impersonation of a relatively uninvolved bystander. As quickly as he looked her way, he looked back at Minato.

"Although I am currently feeling fine, I would like to request to be checked out as a precaution against any possible damage case the Ketsuryugan might have caused." Minato nodded in agreement before turning to Sakura.

"I trust you to see to Itachi's treatment in the ANBU medic rooms in the basement. Ensure he is given the highest level of care, and if he must be seen by anyone but you, be sure they are vetted thoroughly. He is ANBU captain and is a highly valued S-rank shinobi, his health is of utmost importance." Sakura nodded with her best straight face. She had figured that he would be that important to the Hokage. Inner Sakura was taking this information and already plotting the most efficient way to kill and dispose of him. "Itachi, once you are finished being examined, come back here to await further instruction." Minato furthered.

Itachi walked towards the door, giving her a discrete once-over that darted from her eyes to the giant pile of receipt in her arms. A small smirk fell on his face for a split second, but she caught it. He put his ANBU mask back on before politely holding open the Hokage's office door.

"After you, Ms. Haruno."

 _Thump, thump._

After bowing again to The Fourth, she whipped around and briskly marched out the door, not waiting for him in the slightest. They walked in complete silence, him remaining a few paces behind her. Whether he was purposefully lagging back, or if she was just walking really fast, she couldn't tell. Her mind was spinning. Why was he keeping information from the Hokage? Clearly, he had failed to tell the Fourth the events about last night, Minato acted as though they had not met before and did not inquire about his health at all. And what was that about him acting as though he had just come back from his mission? He was here, in the village, nearly dead last night. Where had he gone after he had awoken? Why did he seem to not be on death row anymore?

What did she do now? They were alone, and she wasn't sure she trusted him to not try to silence her again. She desperately tried to keep her anger at bay, forcing all thoughts of what the Uchiha deserved out of her mind. While she was still working out her next move, he spoke up from behind her.

"This way." He motioned with a nod of his head to a different hallway and began walking down it, his tied black hair gently flowing behind him, not waiting for her this time. She felt the hairs on her neck stand up.

" _He has got some fucking nerve,"_ Inner Sakura seethed in her ear. At this point, Sakura was pretty sure just the sound of him breathing would anger her inner self.

The two of them walked in silence again, her following him down the endless halls and stairwells of the Hokage complex, staring holes in his back as they descended into the basement levels. If looks could burn.

Before long, he stopped in front of a door and held it open for her again. For a glorified mind-rapist, he was unusually chivalrous. She glared up at his mask as she walked into the room, refusing to let him intimidate her. Inside it was dark and dusty, set up to resemble some sort of a classroom with long wooden desks and chairs haphazardly strewn about. Judging from the cobwebs arranged across nearly everything, it had not been put to use in a long time. The only light in the room filtered in from a small window in the upper hand corner, which was mostly blocked by outside grasses. She could gleam enough to tell that it was clearly not the ANBU medic room.

Sakura sat at one of the tables, placing her giant, bundled receipt next to her and watched Itachi walk to the far side of the room, his posture impeccably straight and his hands clasped behind him. After a few moments of silence, he took off his ANBU mask and set it down, leaning down on both of his hands on the table in front of him, his back still to Sakura, as if something was weighing on him, but Sakura had a hard time caring.

"If you brought me here just to ignore me, you could have at least told me and spared us both this huge waste of time." She remarked, her voice dripping with a sarcastic disdain. More silence followed.

"I think I owe you an explanation." He finally spoke up in a monotone, calculating voice. Inner Sakura started screeching. Sakura pushed her to the very back of her mind and tried to seal her off.

"Oh, is that all you owe me?" He straightened his back and turned to look at her with another one of his famous blank, yet intense stares. She was beginning to get really sick of that look. "Gonna just stare at me some more?"

"My apologies, I wasn't aware I had been staring at you?" He blinked and tilted his head at her in a mild display of confusion. She felt her fists ball up and she stuffed them under her armpits. He was right, technically he had only sent glances at her, but they had felt like stares.

"Fuck off, Uchiha, you fucking know what I mean. Spit out your "explanation" so we can all get back to our lives. Or are you going to try to Genjutsu me again?" She leaned back in her seat, rolling her eyes. She almost wished he would, just so she could see the look on his face as she sent it crumbling down. As far as she knew, nobody non-Uchiha had ever managed to escape a high-level Sharingan Genjutsu before it ended solely at the will of the jutsu-caster, she realized. He probably was trying to wrap his head around how she of all people did it.

There it was again. That ever-so-slight smirk of his. It was almost imperceptible. Then he was back to his blank expression, giving nothing away. She had to give it to him, he knew how to throw up a wall.

"Sakura, there is something you must understand. As of last night, you are now a huge liability. To me, and to the village." He stated bluntly, making direct eye contact with her, not an ounce of an apology anywhere in his voice.

She took a deep breath in. That was all she was to him. _A liability_

"After everything I did for you..." Her face cast a long shadow and she began to shake in a silent rage. Inner Sakura was now all but banshee screaming, violently rattling at her cage to take the reins. "You accuse me of being a liability, not only to you... but to my own village." She rephrased with a calm, calculated effort, processing his description of her.

"You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I acknowledge your valiant effort in saving me, but you should have turned a blind eye." He looked down slightly, the shadow from the poorly illuminated room shrouding his expression. "I'm going to refrain from trying to Genjutsu you again, seeing as you know how to break out of them, but I am giving you a direct order as a superior to remain silent about last nights events and everything that has resulted from it. If you do not, you will be dealt with accordingly."

Inner Sakura kicked down the door of her mind-jail in a billow of flaming glory, wasting no time in taking the drivers seat. Having had enough of his bullshit, Sakura jumped up on the table and flew across the room at Itachi, who remained unmoved, not even lifting his head up to look at her. She let loose a enraged yell, jumping and spinning in midair to direct a momentous, chakra-laced kick at his head. Before it made contact, she felt a hand firmly grasp around her ankle, stopping her. She quickly locked eyes with his Sharingan, before snarling and twisting to try to kick him with her other leg, which was also promptly grabbed in his other hand. Her abs crunched up as she brought one of her fists up to deliver a blow to his head, which he flipped over backwards to dodge, sending her flying across the room as he tossed her out of his grip.

She flew across the room lightning fast, landing with a loud slam against the wall on her feet, bracing herself up with one arm. Itachi continued to stand there as if she weren't a threat, watching her silently with his Sharingan eyes. And it absolutely infuriated her. She dropped down from the wall, stomping up to him and stopping herself barely a millimeter from his face, staring into his Sharingan with a burning intensity, feeling his soft breath fan across her nose. He continued to remain impassive.

"You expect me to just turn a blind eye to a dying leaf ninja? Just who the fuck do you think I am?!" She seethed in his face, fighting the urge to spit at him. "I save your fucking life and you try to make me forget it and instead have a memory of being fucking attacked and raped? I save your life and you treat me like an enemy of the state because of it?" She swung a fist at him, moving much, much faster than she had before. She saw his Sharingan flash towards her hand and a minor expression of surprise on his face as he stopped it just before it collided with his head.

"I wasted my seal chakra on a dead man walking! And he has the _audacity_ to call me a liability to my own fucking village! I'm not a fucking liability, _YOU'RE_ the liability here. Itachi Uchiha, the legendary S-rank shinobi who would keep information from his Hokage, and for some god-forsaken reason, sooner keel over than endure the inconvenience of being saved." Sakura spat at him, her tone dripping with venom. His eyes began to narrow and his lips began to set sternly as he silently let her rant continue, thoroughly analyzing her with his Sharingan. Good, she hoped he remembered this.

"I have given up _everything_ I had to serve my village! Everything I am is for the village, I left, I fucking left and didn't look back, because I knew I needed to become stronger! That I wasn't enough! I needed to be strong enough to handle the stresses of working with the Hokage, strong enough to protect the village! Strong enough to heal everyone and save every single life that comes my way, including your sorry ass, whether you like it or not! Silence that, you fucking prick!" She was shaking as the last sentence ripped through her lungs and she sent her other fist at his face with an incredible speed.

This time he was ready though. Grabbing her small fist, he wrenched both of her hands down at her sides, slamming her back against one of the heavy tables with a lightning fast speed, pinning her against it with his entire body. They remained pressed against each other wordlessly, Sakura continuing to shake ever so slightly as they locked eyes, green meeting red. Only the faint sound of their deliberate breaths broke the silence. His body heat emanated all over her and there was no space at all between them from the torso down.

"You think you know something about strength, do you?" He finally spoke down at her ear softly, his hair lightly brushing against her cheek. His Sharingan analyzed her with a dark, convoluted stare, his mouth drawn tight. She studied his expression cautiously, trying to gauge how to react. She felt her anger slowly diffuse. He was the master of throwing up walls, knowing exactly what to do and say to get people to react how he wanted them too. But now, he was biting at his lip, closing his eyes, clearly holding back trying to say something. Despite her previous rage, she began to wish he would just say what he wanted to. For him to just to be completely honest for once. She had never seen him so visibly bothered by anything before, and yet here, somehow, her words had struck him.

"You're in for a rude awakening, Haruno."

And then, just like that, he was gone.

-AN-

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, please R&R. Your reviews, follows, favorites were a huge motivation in getting me to update faster than my previous estimate of 2 weeks :) As always, constructive criticism is very welcomed!

Also, in case you're wondering, no I do not plan to have Itachi be so insufferable for much longer. There will be romance, eventually, I promise! As always, everything is in the name of plot, my pretties *evil cackle* Believe me, I would love to just write a godly, perfect happy fun Itachi, but alas, he is human here, and a slightly messed up one. Who wouldn't be after living in the Naruto universe.

Also I apologize, I keep going back and rereading and editing this to fix grammatical errors and add in small, supporting details :/ I'm super bad about only finding mistakes after I upload a chapter, despite infinite proofreads.

EDIT 3/10: Hey all! Updates might be very slow, I'm at a point in the story now where I'm really having to iron out the plot and it's taking a lot more time than I thought it would. Planning is hard. But don't despair, I have too many ideas I want to write to give this up. Please be patient :)


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